


the dark doesn't scare me when you're here

by lellowix



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Established Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Idiots in Love, M/M, My First AO3 Post, Not Beta Read, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, not even angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28798782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lellowix/pseuds/lellowix
Summary: Just a fluffy Skephalo oneshot with the tiniest little bit of angst. I wrote this for an event, and I'm honestly nervous because it's my first time posting on ao3, and this is a new writing style that I'm experimenting with.Enjoy!
Relationships: BadBoyHalo/Skeppy, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch
Comments: 9
Kudos: 63





	the dark doesn't scare me when you're here

A man sat by the fire, alone. He huddled ever closer as the embers dwindled into darkness, and the charred wood was finally consumed by inevitability. The cold air, despite the lack of wind, still bit and clawed at exposed skin, desperate to strip the man of the heat that proved his life. It had already declared its sovereignty over the last of the whimpering coals, and it seduced the shred of warmth left in the man to follow with false promises of rest.

But the man would not relinquish his spark as the fire had, not yet. He stirred from his hibernation, expecting for his tired eyes to be met with the ever-welcome grin of his beloved; the angles of his face cast with beautiful shadows granted by the dying flames. Blinking, he realized that only the whispering evergreens and distant constellations bore witness to his weary smile.

A sudden rush of adrenaline lifted his eyelids and hauled him to his feet, on alert and searching with for the slightest glimpse of blue within the darkness. His eyes strained against the viscous gloom. Not long ago, he had curled into the sympathetic arms of his lover, shielded from the jaggedly dancing light that painted echoes of monsters onto the trees surrounding them. Now, he wished for that light back, as painted monsters were far preferable to what could be lurking just beyond the reaches of the rapidly dwindling coals.

“Skeppy?”

His voice, rough and hoarse with sleep, shattered the monotonous silence. The sharp upturn at the beginning of the word was softened by an amalgamation of accent and worry. He reluctantly stepped further from his diminishing respite, testing the threshold of the darkness and finding it worryingly welcoming. A crunch as he set his heel down again startled him, and he looked down to find a layer of fresh snow coating the ground in all directions. He glanced once more at the last of the embers, then resolved to discover where his beloved had wandered off to.

The compression of snow beneath his feet was dry and sharp, slicing through the night like a blade. No matter how quickly the man walked, however, he could still feel the stillness creep back towards him between every step. He walked still faster, forcing the silence to give up some ground in their fateful game of tug-of-war.

His destination appeared out of the darkness before him, and he sighed in relief at the sight of the ramshackle wooden building. The walk to their woodshed had seemed longer this time, and he had begun to wonder if he had ventured the right direction. Now that he had arrived, however, he was sure that the disorientation was only due to the absence of the usual chatter of his partner.

Now willing to grant the silence some leeway, the man slowed his footsteps. The door of the small building - if you could call it that - seemed to approach him more than he approached it. He felt the roughness of the wooden door, dragged the calloused tips of his fingers over splinters until the chilled metal of the handle rested beneath his palm. His breath plumed in the air before him as he coaxed the hinges of the elderly entryway to yield him access.

The smell of pine was strong in the cramped space, filling the man’s lungs with a nostalgic afterthought. The atmosphere within the shed was just as cold, but it seemed to playfully nip at the man’s face, in loving contrast to the predatory tendencies held by the air outside. He gently closed the door, letting the familiar setting calm him.

The presence of a wheelbarrow, half-filled with coarsely chopped logs, lifted his spirits. Gliding around the cart on graceful feet, the sight he found on the other side lifted the corners of his lips in a fond smile. There, curled in the corner, was his beloved. The blue hoodie he wore was pulled over his palms, and his eyelashes fluttered lightly against his caramel skin as the slow breath of sleep stirred the air.

A chuckle emerged from the man’s throat as he knelt down next to his love, placing a hand on the sleeping one’s shoulder and letting his adoration flow as the eyes he fell in love with slowly blinked open.

“Bad?” the drowsy voice muttered. “Wha’s goin on, Bad?” He stretched out his arms slowly, frowning as one of them collided with the side of the wheelbarrow. “Wh- Where am I?”

Bad helped him up, not even bothering to hide the amusement in his voice. “Well, it seems like you fell asleep in the woodshed, Skeppy.”

Skeppy looked at his partner in confusion. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re a silly muffin.”

The other frowned and looked away, his voice still quiet and tainted by sleep.

“Am not.”

“Well, do you want to explain what happened then?” Bad asked, supporting Skeppy as the blue boy leaned against him languidly.

“Well, I was going to get wood,” Skeppy remembered, “because the fire was getting low, and I didn’t want to wake you up. So I took the wheelbarrow over here, and started filling it so we would have lots of extra wood in case we needed it.” He patted the wheelbarrow like one would pat someone on the head. “But the wood is really heavy, y’know? So I sat down because my arms were tired, and I guess I was just tired in general, because I fell asleep.”

“See? You are a silly muffin.” Bad ruffled his hair lovingly, taking the handles of the wheelbarrow and pushing it back out the door. “Come on, this should be enough to keep the fire going until morning.”

They closed the door of the woodshed behind them, and on the way back, Bad reveled in the simple harmony that the sound of his beloved’s voice created with the crunch of the snow beneath their feet. Even though the going was slower, what with the drag of the wheelbarrow and Skeppy’s tendency to wander and get distracted, the last light from their fire was in view before he knew it. Taking Skeppy’s hand and pulling him away from a tree that apparently had very interesting bark, Bad started unloading the wheelbarrow and placing the wood into a pile next to their little circle of warmth. Skeppy began to refuel the fire, poking the embers with a stick once he was done.

Bad paused on his way to the growing woodpile, the section of log he held in his hands nearly forgotten in an instant. The way the revived flames reflected in his beloved’s eyes mesmerised him. Every angle of the man’s face was highlighted by the crackling warmth, every perfection made even more by the flickering light. When he looked up and smiled softly, Bad felt his heart do that cliche thing that he doesn’t care to remember the name of at that very moment.

Placing the log down in the pile, he ignored the still-full wheelbarrow and curled next to Skeppy, placing his head in the man’s lap and sighing contentedly when he felt the man’s arm rest around his waist. The silence was no longer malicious, but soothing, a gift from Skeppy to him and from him to Skeppy. The freezing air was kept at bay by the heat of their fire and the heat of their love, and though it growled and whined its threats, they knew that it could not reach them there. The dancers of light that flit between the trees no longer hinted at prowling monsters just beyond their reach, but promised to protect the two of them should any happen to appear.

And as Bad fell asleep in the arms of his beloved, he could not help but feel safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt given - (by crime#7223) person A has gone out into the snow for firewood. it’s been an hour and they haven’t come back. person B goes out to find them.
> 
> This was really fun! Gave me practice with figurative language, which I definitely need. Thanks!


End file.
